Lt Gen Devendra Sharma retires from Indian Army after 39 years of service

Shimla: Lieutenant General Devendra Sharma, PVSM, AVSM, SM, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Army Training Command (ARTRAC), Shimla, has superannuated from the Indian Army after 39 years of distinguished service.

A second-generation officer, Sharma's father, late Wing Commander Shiv Kumar Sharma, was an Indian Air Force fighter pilot who saw combat in four operations - Goa in 1961, Fukcheh and Demchok in 1962, Halwara in 1965 and Pathankot in 1971.

An alumnus of Mayo College, Ajmer, Sharma was commissioned into the SCINDE HORSE, an armoured regiment of the Indian Army, on December 19, 1987.


Early in his career, while serving with 11 RAJPUTANA RIFLES in counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir under Operation RAKSHAK, he was awarded the Sena Medal for gallantry.

He went on to command the SCINDE HORSE, an Armoured Brigade, an Infantry Division and a Pivot Corps, all along the Western Front. He also held key staff appointments, including BGS (Operations) of a Strike Corps, Major General General Staff (Operations) and Chief of Staff at Command Headquarters.

An alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, and the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, Sharma won the Chief of Army Staff Trophy for standing first in the overall order of merit at the College of Defence Management.

He was also conferred the JTM Gibson Award for Professional Excellence and Inspiring Leadership by Mayo College, Ajmer, in 2024.

Sharma assumed command of ARTRAC as its 25th Army Commander on July 1, 2024.